The subject matter herein relates generally to communication systems having receptacle assemblies including cabled receptacle connectors in receptacle cages.
Communication systems are known having receptacle cages mounted to host circuit boards. The communication systems typically include a board mounted receptacle connector mounted directly to the host circuit board within a receptacle cage. The receptacle connector has contacts including mating ends defining a mating interface for mating with pluggable modules and terminating ends that are terminated directly to the host circuit board. Signal paths are defined from the pluggable modules to the host circuit board through the signal contacts of the receptacle connectors. However, the signal paths are routed through the host circuit board and may be long signal paths along the host circuit board, leading to signal loss along the long signal paths. Additionally, the geometries of the systems are limited due to being mounted to the surface of the host circuit board. Stacking and ganging of multiple receptacle cages within the communication system is limited due to space needed for mounting the multiple receptacle cages adjacent each other on the host circuit board and to the front panel or bezel, leading to a decrease in density of the communication system within a given space or envelope. Additionally, with stacked receptacle connectors, the signal contacts associated with the upper module channel mated with the upper pluggable module have longer signal path lengths than the signal contacts associated with the lower module channel mated with the lower pluggable module leading to problems with electrical skew. Furthermore, the board mounted receptacle cages and receptacle connectors have problems with cooling of the components due to a lack of airflow around the components, such as between the host circuit board and the components.
Some known communication systems utilize receptacle connectors having cables terminated to the signal contacts rather than terminating the signal contacts directly to a host circuit board. However, incorporating such cabled receptacle connectors into a receptacle cage is problematic. Removal and/or replacement of such cabled receptacle connectors is problematic.
A need remains for a receptacle cage for a communication system that removably receives cabled receptacle connectors.